6. Wear your rain suit before it starts raining. The view on the open road usually is wide enough for you to be able to see the certainty heading into rain ahead. Use the new GoreTex treated rain suits. They are rain repellent, don’t smell like rubber and allow the fabric to breathe, unlike the rubberized rain suits. There is one more thing which needs just as much, if not more, care as you when riding in the rain; the chain of your motorcycle. The mud and slush contribute to the build-up of gunk. We prefer the Castrol Chain Lube Racing to protect our motorcycles’ chains from the ill-effects of those kinds of riding conditions.  

7. Be aware of your motorcycle’s fuel efficiency. During regular use of the bike, see how accurate or inaccurate the fuel gauge is. Keep a tab on the mileage, not just with the point of saving money but also to be aware of how far you can get on a tank full. Also, make it a habit to keep your motorcycle well maintained. Change the engine oil at regular intervals. A good quality engine oil of the right grade, like the ones from the Castrol POWER1 range, can significantly improve the mileage of a motorcycle. 

8. Keep time, speed and distance in perspective. This is about avoiding unnecessary speeding in the guise of covering distance quickly. A 10 kph difference in average speed over 8 hours gets you there early by half an hour or so. This, in simple terms, means that doing 100 kph instead of 80 kph will get you quicker to your destination 400 kms away by 30 mins. Think of the associated strain on both you and the bike along with the higher risk at higher speeds is worth it.

9. Avoid stuffing yourself with food during the ride. Overeating will make you sluggish, sleepy (the digestion takes the lion’s share of the body’s blood circulation and while riding you can’t just afford that) and sitting crouched on a sporty bike becomes rather uncomfortable with an over-filled stomach.

10. Ride on your side of the road when you ride the twisties. Keeping to your side gives you lots of margin for safety and others, lots of margins for errors. People can do irresponsible things like overtaking on blind curves and your safety here is in direct proportion to the amount of road you leave with them to lay their recklessness on.